My First July 4th

[Stuart and Thea 95]

I live in a resort town, Branson Missouri. It's the 100th anniversary this year, and I was really expecting that there would be a lot of festivities surrounding Independance Day. I've seen in movies how patriotic Americans are, and thought there would be a lot of festivities going on, so had high expectations for it. The city held the fireworks on the 3rd, which were really good, and it left me able to experience a celebration in a nearby town for the 4th, but there wasn't anything here on the 4th at all except a 5k race, and in THIS heat, forget about it!

So we went to this neighbouring town called Rockaway Beach, they boasted a motorcycle trick show, and a hydraulic automobile show, games, water activities, food, and fireworks. It sounded awesome! We got to the town of 677 people, (exactly, I saw the sign) and there was a barbecue set up, a popcorn stand, a dunk tank, and a bouncy waterslide for toddlers. There was no music, the motorcycle trick show was a guy on a dirt bike with a ramp, and he was sunbathing on it, there were no cars on display, and no where to get a drink but the corner store. I've gone to many Canada Day celebrations that featured live bands, many food vendors, beer tents, facepainting, clowns, teacups and small rides, something really worth going to. This place you were done seeing it all ten minutes into the town, and all the town's shops were closed down so there wasn't even shopping to do. I was really disappointed, and even though I know the fireworks would have been good, it was too hot to wait for hours with nothing to do, so we paid a dollar to dunk a guy in the tank as our donation, and left. We ended up going to a restaurant for a bite to eat and then just sitting home, a couple neighbours down the way lit fireworks later in the night because we saw through the trees, but come on!

Anyone here have a better story to share, or did you all have higher expectations like I did? (maybe I watched too many old tv shows and the real world doesn't celebrate like on tv)

All I know, is next year, if I don't see something awesome, I'm going to have my own party.

[X Factor 1,112]

It depends on where you live. Most bigger towns have budgets and they can afford the spectacular fireworks which are quite expensive. Smaller towns just don't have it, so people mostly get together as families and have a bar-b-que.

[mrsbourffada 3]

Have your own party! My town has maybe 10,000 people in it. My whole block is pretty much a series of small parties. People setting off their own displays while we wait for the big one, barbecue, drinks, and a general good time. The field across the street from my house is where they put the big firework display. They're always music playing over there, people waving the American flag, food, games, and a beer garden. If someone's walking by my house and our neighbor's houses to get to the field with the display, about 20 different people are yelling "Happy Independence Day!" Only on the fourth of July, when I turn in to go to bed around 1 or 2 am, could I call "BOOM" "BANG" "CRACK" a comforting series of sounds to fall asleep to. Just knowing that my neighborhood is out there celebrating where we came from as a nation makes me sleep like a baby.

[Marilyn. 340]

a few times we have gone to the festivities in West Covina, CA. They had rides, food etc.. One year they had a chilli cook-off. Then in the evening they would have live bands and an awesome fireworks display..

It all depends on the size of the town and the budget they have.

[LlamaInvasion 76]

I've always found 4th of July to be a smaller celebration than Norway's national day. Back home, there is parades and marching bands and stuff, and downtown gets so crowded, and the high school seniors go nuts and the whole city just comes to life. Even in the suburbs, it gets crowded, they have parades and stuff. Before we moved to Pittsburgh, I never saw anything happen at all. We lived in a tiiiiny town, and they never did anything - no fireworks, not anything at all. After we moved, I know they had fireworks shows in certain locations, but we didn't bother going there. There were no parades that we found, and most people just seemed to stay at home at barbecue. That's eventually what we ended up doing; just going to my in-laws' and grilled some hot dogs. We'd been warned that our neighborhood tended to shoot off fireworks both on July 4th and the days surrounding it, but have not heard or seen anything at all.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Living near DC I think they make a bigger deal out of it around here. You can go to any number of fireworks celebrations - many held on the 3rd since DC has the 'Capitol 4th' big shindig with fireworks and all day festivities. Our community pool has a community BBQ midday which is fun for the families with little ones .

It becomes more of a family event in the evenings with people having friends and fam over for BBQs (I'm sorry....I mean 'to grill' ). Many cul de sacs and courts do their own fireworks, its almost like a contest! Some are pretty spectacular.

I say have your own party!

[X Factor 1,112]

Living in North Jersey, you see lots of spectacular fire works. The sad thing is in some areas, gang bangers take advantage of the noise and use this time to execute other gang members and the gun shots blend in with the fire works.

[sms78 18]

I live in So Cal. There are fireworks everywhere! On the beach or stadiums. That's it though. Not much crazy carnivals or parades. Most of people just BBQ at backyard with friends, family, and neighbors. Especially this year was the leap year and so the 4th of July falls in the middle of the week. I went to Costco yesterday and the place was packed with ppl so I'm assuming many people in So cal are having parties this weekend??

[Mr. Borkström 63]

I think it depends a lot on your expectations. When I visited my now-wife two years ago (before we were married) I came over on the 3rd so that I would be able to celebrate July 4th with her and her family in Pittsburgh, PA. I figured, what would be more American than the 4th of July?

I thought there was gonna be parades and stuff, but the only somewhat organized thing we saw was the downtown fireworks in the evening. Those were really cool though. My first 4th of July consisted mostly of buying some clothes at WalMart (my suitcase came to Pittsburgh on a different route than me, and two days after I'd arrived) and hang out with my wife and her immediate family (parents, uncle, kids, brother and one of her brother's friend if I remember correctly). They BBQ'd food. It was nice, although the heat damn near killed me. But all in all, even if it wasn't like I had expected, I still liked it very much.

[Xanax 349]

It wasn't what the television had led me to believe for sure. Fireworks yes but nothing else. We seem to do more back home.

[Marilyn. 340]

some places do more then others..

the town where we live now had a parade. They also had this Family Fun Fest celebration that was on July 3rd and 4th, where they had food, music, rides etc.. We didn't go so I don't know what it was like. They had a fireworks show in the evening which we saw part of from our house.

[EminTX 131]

We had our own BBQ set up beside a pasture where a friend keeps her horses. We were able to listen to patriotic music and see the fireworks show in the town we were in (over the trees) along with the fireworks in the distance from the next town over. We invited others to join us and had traditional American cookout grub along with a couple of recipes from my (immigrant) husband's country to celebrate our diversity.

For me, it was a great time. We were with friends, we ate like pigs, we laughed a lot, and we were free to celebrate our freedom.

Note: In the US, we like to be free to celebrate this day--putting together lots of parades and shows and concerts and other stuff is a lot of work for a lot of people, not to mention the expense, as cited above. Besides, if you take a town of under 1000 people and put together a show, what percentage of the town is left to view it (and what percentage of the town is too old or too young to go or participate)?

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

It's just a day off.

[Kajikit 65]

I think it comes under the heading of 'real life is not a Hollywood movie'. Mostly people just grill and shoot things into the air. Our city has a big annual celebration with all those things you were expecting but it's not on July 4th, it's in March, and they hold an Oktoberfest every year, but they don't do anything organised for Independence Day.

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

I think it comes under the heading of 'real life is not a Hollywood movie'. Mostly people just grill and shoot things into the air. Our city has a big annual celebration with all those things you were expecting but it's not on July 4th, it's in March, and they hold an Oktoberfest every year, but they don't do anything organised for Independence Day.

America is rarely like anything in the movies.

Whenever my husband and I happen to drive through a depressed area in our town, we often muse on what his family and friends would think.